Tubby Smith: No decision on Devoe Joseph's return

The Gophers won the weekend's Puerto Rico Tipoff and earned a top-15 national ranking without Devoe Joseph, arguably the best player on the roster.

During Tuesday's media availability, Tubby Smith said his second unit might be better than his first unit when Joseph is playing with it.

"Our second unit beats the first unit lots of times in practice, especially with Devoe on that team," Smith said. "In fact, they're probably better to put it succinctly. With him on that group, they're probably better than our first group. I like it that way."

But when will he return? Smith said he hasn't made that decision.

"I don't know when we'll see him," Smith said. "I have to do some evaluation of what he did academically last week and going forward, so we'll see."

But a source close to the program told me recently that Joseph will probably suit up for Monday's matchup against Virginia, part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. "He'll play," the source said.

-Trevor Mbakwe earned Big Ten player of the week honors Monday. No surprise there. The junior forward is nearly averaging a double-double through five games (14.0 points, 9.4 rebounds per game).

-Blake Hoffarber turned an ankle toward the end of Tuesday's practice, Smith said. But he looked OK during a shootaround after practice.

-The Gophers earned their first official top-15 ranking in nearly 30 years, after polls were released Monday, a day after the squad won the Puerto Rico Tipoff by beating Western Kentucky, North Carolina (now ranked No. 25 in both polls). They're No. 15 in the Associated Press top-25 poll and No. 17 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll.

During the 1981-82 season, the Gophers peaked at No. 5 in the country. That team won the Big Ten title. The 1996-97 squad was the second-ranked team in the nation at one point. But its results were vacated due to the academic scandal.

I vote in the AP poll. I ranked the Gophers No. 15 in the country. Looks like my colleagues agree.

Here's my ballot for Monday's poll:

1. Duke

2. Michigan State

3. Kansas State

4. Ohio State

5. Pitt

6.Villanova

7. Kansas

8. Kentucky

9. Washington

10. Purdue

11. Baylor

12. Missouri

13. BYU

14. Syracuse

15. Minnesota

16. Florida

17. Texas

18. Temple

19. Illinois

20. Memphis

21. San Diego State

22. Tennessee

23.Georgetown

24. Gonzaga

25. Virginia Tech

-Don't forget to check out the second Big Ten Power Poll Wednesday. I wonder if the Gophers will earn the top spot after what they achieved over the weekend.

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Marcus Fuller joined the Star Tribune in 2016 after 11 years covering Gophers sports – and just about every other team and league in town -- for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Before making the Twin Cities his home, Marcus spent two years in The Kansas City Star sports department. Marcus grew up in Hawaii and is a 2002 graduate of San Jose State. Follow Fuller on Twitter @Marcus_R_Fuller.